Want To Speed Up Your Recovery From An Auto Accident? Address Your Visceral Response To Stress

When you've been in a car accident, your pain is real -- but its core causes may include more than you realize. It's natural to assume that all the pain you experience is due to a physical injury, but stress plays a big role as well. This visceral response, meaning that it's a response to an emotional reaction, can increase your discomfort greatly and prolong the time needed for physical therapies you might have to undertake. There's no shame in having this visceral response, by the way; it's a normal reaction. Knowing that you have it, however, allows you to tackle it and speed up your recovery. Chiropractic treatments, like adjustments and massage, are perfect for combating the stress-response side of your pain.

Stress Takes Two Basic Forms

You're likely dealing with two forms of stress from the accident. One is the physical stress you experience from tension and from dealing with the pain, as well as potential overuse of uninjured limbs. The other is the emotional stress that comes with chronic pain -- and as acute as the cause might have been, the lingering pain is technically chronic.

Your body can create physical pain from that stress. Sometimes it's obvious, like a tension headache, but other times, the pain surfaces as a seemingly unrelated condition. If you feel like you've been figuratively hit by several health problems after your accident, it's entirely possible that at least some of these conditions are part of your body's stress reaction.

Stress Feeds on Itself

All this stress creates a feedback loop because the stress and pain feed upon each other. You're stressed out from being in pain, so you're likely tense, but that muscle tension only creates more pain, which creates more stress, and so on. It's annoying, but it's not impossible to clear up. The good news is that starting somewhere -- anywhere -- can unlock your body's ability to help heal itself and release the stress.

Adjustments and Massage Can Relieve Stress and Reverse the Feedback Loop

Massage reduces muscle tension, so any additional pain caused by that can fade, creating the first break in the pain feedback loop. Adjustments for sore joints and muscles can also release tension, and they can help reduce inflammation that could be causing additional pain. If you can attack the pain and stress on a few fronts, you'll find that the seemingly small efforts you make each day add up.

Go to an auto accident clinic and discuss what treatments may work for your situation. Don't be surprised if you need more than a few treatments; again, when you're in pain, you need to address several aspects in small doses. Keep at it, though -- the cumulative effects could be just what you need.

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